Showtime unveil boxing schedule

SHOWTIME Sports has unveiled the network’s complete spring 2017 boxing schedule following today’s earlier announcement that the heavyweight boxing event of the year will be televised live on SHOWTIME. The stacked lineup includes seven world championship fights across eight live boxing telecasts over an eight-week span.

On Saturday, April 29, Anthony Joshua will face Wladimir Klitschko in the most significant heavyweight world championship fight in more than a decade. The event will air live on SHOWTIME at 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT from a sold-out Wembley Stadium, where a record crowd of more than 90,000 spectators is expected.

Also announced today, SHOWTIME and Premier Boxing Champions will present the rematch between WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Adonis Stevenson and Andrzej Fonfara on Saturday, June 3. This bout is an encore of a 2014 action-packed fight in which Stevenson edged Fonfara to defend his 175-pound crown.

The SHOWTIME boxing lineup also includes two significant welterweight bouts with world title implications: Andre Berto vs. Shawn Porter (April 22) and Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence Jr. (May 27). Both events are presented in association with Premier Boxing Champions. The April 22 Berto vs. Porter event will feature an anticipated 154-pound world title fight between Jermell Charlo and Charles Hatley as well as world champion Amanda Serrano attempting to become the first woman—and first fighter of Puerto Rican decent—to win a world title in five different weight classes.

On Saturday, May 20, SHOWTIME will present a unique twin-bill of world championship fights. First, boxing’s hottest young star, newly minted world champion Gervonta Davis, will make his first world title defense against Liam Walsh from London. Later that evening, featherweight world champion Gary Russell Jr. and former world champion Andre Dirrell will be featured in separate bouts. Start times for both live telecasts are to be determined.

In all, SHOWTIME Sports will present one live SHOWTIME BOXING INTERNATIONAL telecast, one live ShoBox: The New Generation telecast, and five SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecasts, all free to network subscribers. Plus, SHOWTIME is in the early stages of planning for the return of four-division world champion Adrien Broner and undefeated star Mikey Garcia in separate events this summer.

The spring lineup complements the network’s robust 2017 boxing schedule. In the first 10 weeks of the year, SHOWTIME Sports presented eight world championship fights, including two world title unification bouts (Jack vs. DeGale and Thurman vs. Garcia, SHOWTIME Boxing on CBS), two world title rematches (Frampton vs. Santa Cruz II and Linares vs. Crolla II), the live-stream of the first-ever boxing event on Twitter (Broner vs. Granados), the resurgence of women’s boxing (Serrano vs. Rivas) and the first women’s boxing main event in premium television history (Shields vs. Szabados).

“SHOWTIME continues its unrivaled commitment to the sport. There simply is no other network in boxing delivering world-class events on a consistent basis,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President & General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports.

“Our 2017 schedule already includes some 17 live boxing telecasts, 15 world championship fights, with the top-rated fighters squaring off in boxing’s deepest weight divisions. We continue to break the glass ceiling on women’s boxing, deliver the biggest bouts from overseas and see champions take on champions to unify divisions. We are proud to be re-shaping the boxing landscape both in and out of the ring.”

See below for the SHOWTIME boxing spring calendar. This is the network’s third major boxing schedule announcement of the past 13 months.